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The fire was reported shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday at a home on Heights Drive.

"There were flames at the front door," neighbor Elizabeth Gentile said. "The door was open and there were flames and I just called 911 and was screaming, 'Is anybody in there?'"

Firefighters rushed to the scene to find heavy smoke pouring out of the front door.

"We weren't sure if someone was in the residence or not because we had a car in front of the residence, so we did do a search, but it turned up negative," Cherry City Volunteer Fire Chief Jim Skalos said.

"I had no clue what was going on over there," Gentile said. "I just knew it wasn't good. One of the cars was gone and I had hoped that they were both out of there."

Police said they wanted to question James about the alleged assault and the fire, and put out a statewide alert for his 2016 Subaru Legacy sedan.

State police in Mercer County were asked to pay particular attention because they said James owned a cabin that was also set on fire Tuesday morning in Crawford County, near Meadville.

While troopers were searching for James, a woman went to the Mercer barracks and said she had seen James at a gas station a few hundred feet from the building. Officers then found him driving his vehicle on Route 19, but lost sight of him repeatedly because of white-out conditions from blinding snow.

After he was spotted again heading south on Route 19, a trooper used a spike strip to blow out his tires. The vehicle traveled off the road, and James was found dead inside from what appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Neighbors said this crime has left them shocked. They said they've known this couple for years.